The Blog of Sue Brooks, Hervey Bay – Fraser Coast

I can’t believe some of the decisions our legal system makes. Yesterday on the front page of the Courier Mail we read about a woman succeeding in having Telstra pay her medical and legal bills. At first glance I thought… just another story until I read that the woman fell down the stairs at her home, not once but twice, and that because she was ‘working from home’ Telstra is somehow responsible. Inside the newspaper I read of a similar case in the US of A! What is the world coming to? Does it mean that from now on if I am working from home, which I do a lot, Council will have to come to my home and check that it is safe? Honestly I just can’t believe this story and am hoping I wake up and find it was all a dream..

Recently I tripped up inside the Council Chamber and aggravated my ruptured achilles tendon prior to it being correctly diagnosed. While I briefly thought of claiming workers compensation once I realised I would need surgery and a considerable time of rehab I just as promptly dismissed the idea. Yes the electrical power lead should not have been laying across the floor but I should have been taking better care of where I was walking. Also the injury was already done via netball some weeks prior. I decided just to get on with my life and have done so, but now apparently if I trip over at home I could place a claim. I just find it all ridiculous. Surely it is up to us to ensure we live in safe houses and up to our private home and/or personal insurance if we injure ourselves at home?

Yesterday was a busy day with the morning spent at Tiaro speaking to people about the introduction or not, of Council divisions. We all have till the end of tomorrow being Monday to Have Our Say on this important issue. Most people at Tiaro seemed to think a return to divisions would be beneficial. The day was superb. Good weather and wonderful stalls and great organisation by hard working volunteers. A credit to Tiaro. Then it was off to the Paddle Out For Whales event at Torquay. Another beautiful afternoon and a sensational event again put on with some hard working caring ‘volunteers’. Thanks to Vicki and Amanda for your dedication. Bob Irwin was inspirational and truthful and hard hitting. I squirmed when Bob described how turtles and dugongs are left to die slow deaths by way of ritual slaughter under Native entitlements. I wish all cultural groups would just simply reassess some of their habits and traditional practices. The slaughter of any animal should be done as quickly and humanely as possible. There is simply no excuse in my mind, why anyone would do anything different once one realises that animals suffer pain and have emotions similar to ours!

Lastly the weekend papers did also provide some good news. A seemingly totally sensible new approach to teaching subject matter is being launched at a couple of schools. The programme is called “Big History’which is a strange name I think but the content of this course is universally sensible. The aim is to teach the evolution of our planet and the human species in a thoroughly objective manner. It weaves science, history and geography etc into the content and aims to provide a much broader and hopefully bias free, method of educating students. Bill Gates is promoting the project and from the small amount of research I have done so far it seems very worthwhile. Imagine a course taught to all children across the world. A course that aims to unite all of us humans rather than divide us. I am encouraged by where this type of education could take us. Do have a look and see what you think http://www.bighistoryproject.com/

In closing just a reminder that Council is asking for feedback about divisions, about the Maryborough CBD and the Fraser Coast Airports Master Plans. If you don’t take the time to have a quick look and a quick say then it is difficult to complain after the plans are adopted. It is concerning to me to have to make decisions for this region when only 1-2% of you have responded to any given issue. I know we live in very busy times but……. please try and have your say. Take care and have fun, Sue

I expect that you might have a different attitude to claiming workers comp if you were in a “real” job, or even if your were self-employed. It’s all nice and lovely to suffer the painful injury you have just suffered and just get on with the job, but in the real world, we don’t have taxpayers paying us no matter how good or badly we do our job. Good on you for having the job you do, but please don’t take it for granted. In my world, if you have time off sick for something like you just suffered, there is no coming back until you are 100% well. There’s no “light duties”, or anything like that. Unless you have a doctors certificate to say you are 100% fit for ALL your duties, you just don’t come back. And try to find a general doctor to say that. The ONLY chance you have to come back is to claim compo, and then the doctors negotiate with the employer. Sure, it’s wrong, but that’s the way it is in the real world Sue.

I agree with you Sue, what you are watching is the growth of the Nanny State.
As to the “real world”, I grew up in it Patricia and loved it. It is so sad that as the Nanny State grows, so does the whinging.

As to being “100% fit”, based on all medical reports, if this was a requirement, few people in this country would work at all.

I assure you my job feels very real to me but yes it is a very different job to the usual! All taxpayers and even non tax payers pay for every worker via consuming goods and services etc. Some jobs, especially manual labour ones, have no alternative light duties capacity. But the rules are made by Government at higher levels than local government. I believe however that the rise in figures of people on disability allowances may be because this benefit pays more than the unemployment benefit and is too easy to obtain.